History BlindIdiotTranslation / Folklore

* And the thing about Cinderella's glass slipper: this is apparently a mistranslation of the original French for "(squirrel) fur slipper". It just sounds, to somebody whose first language is not French, like "glass slipper" (and since hardly anybody wears ''vair'' (squirrel fur) these days, many modern-day French people will also think the slippers are made of ''verre''(glass)).

Anecdotes the People of (Folklore)

* And the thing about Cinderella's glass slipper: this is apparently a mistranslation of the original French for "fur slipper" (which makes more sense in a Freudian context - the Prince is looking for an, err, "[[CountryMatters fur slipper]]" that fits). It just sounds, to somebody whose first language is not French, like "glass slipper" (and since hardly anybody wears ''vair'' (squirrel fur) these days, many modern-day French people will also think the slippers are made of ''verre''(glass)).

* And the thing about Cinderella's glass slipper: this is apparently a mistranslation of the original French for "fur slipper" (which makes more sense in a Freudian context - the Prince is looking for an, err, "[[CountryMatters fur slipper]]" that fits). It just sounds, to somebody whose first language is not French, like "glass slipper".

* Allegedly, the expression "Out of sight, out of mind" was once translated from English to Russian, and then back into English. It became "[[BlindIdiotTranslation invisible idiot]]", which makes sense really.

* There's an apocryphal story of the Chevy Nova failing to sell in Spanish-speaking countries because the name transliterates into "No Go" in Spanish. In truth, the English word "Nova," in Spanish, means...Nova. (The two-word-phrase "no va" would indeed mean "doesn't go"-- but it's [[AccentUponTheWrongSyllable accented totally differently]]. The myth is equivalent to suggesting a dining room set from Ikea failed in English speaking countries because it was named "Notable.")

* A character which appears in English folklore is the "Chichevache". In French this means "skinny cow". It's so skinny, you see, because it devours faithful and obedient wives, and hence the poor thing is starving (ha ha). It has been suggested that the name came form a humorous or accidental mishearing of the French name/nickname "Chichifache" ("Pinch Face"), which is pronounced almost the same way.

* The Soviet car brand "Zhiguli" whose original models were derived from licensed Fiat designs, when marketed overseas - Series/TopGear loved to hate the end result of that - was renamed "Lada". The apocryphal story goes, this was to avoid any connotations with "Gigolo" for possible Western customers.

* There's an apocryphal story of the Chevy Nova failing to sell in Spanish-speaking countries because the name transliterates into "No Go" in Spanish. In truth, the English word "Nova," in Spanish, means...Nova. (The two-word-phrase "no va" would indeed mean "doesn't go"-- but it's [[AccentUponTheWrongSyllable accented totally differently]]. The myth is equivalent to suggesting a dining room set from Ikea failed in English speaking countries because it was named "Notable.")

** As of October 2009, trying this with [[http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ the Babel Fish online translator]] yields the utterly incomprehensible result "From the eyes down, from the heart there."[[note]]It got translated into the equivalent Russian idiom (which literally means something like "away from the eyes, out of the heart") and then word-by-word back into English.[[/note]]

** As of October 2009, trying this with [[http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ the Babel Fish online translator]] yields the utterly incomprehensible result "From the eyes down, from the heart there."[[hottip:*:It got translated into the equivalent Russian idiom (which literally means something like "away from the eyes, out of the heart") and then word-by-word back into English.]]

* There's an apocryphal story of the Chevy Nova failing to sell in Spanish-speaking countries because the name transliterates into "No Go" in Spanish. In truth, the English word "Nova," in Spanish, means...Nova. (The two-word-phrase "no va" would indeed mean "no go"-- but it's pronounced totally differently. The myth is equivalent to suggesting a dining room set from Ikea failed in English speaking countries because it was named "Notable.")

* There's an apocryphal story of the Chevy Nova failing to sell in Spanish-speaking countries because the name transliterates into "No Go" in Spanish. In truth, the English word "Nova," in Spanish, means...Nova.

** As of October 2009, trying this with [[http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ the Babel Fish online translator]] yields the utterly incomprehensible result "From the eyes down, from the heart there."[[hottip:*:It got translated into the equivalent Russian idiom (which literally means something like "away from the eyes, out of the heart") and then word-by-word back into English.]]

** As of October 2009, trying this with [[http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ the Babel Fish online translator]] yields the utterly incomprehensible result "From the eyes down, from the heart there."[[hottip:*:It got translated into the equivalent Russian idiom (which literally means something like "away from the eyes, out of the heart") and then word-by-word back into English.]]

* Allegedly, the expression "Out of sight, out of mind" was once translated from English to Russian, and then back into English. It became "[[BlindIdiotTranslation invisible idiot]]", [[FridgeBrilliance which makes sense really.]]